Lien, Jennifer

Growing up in Chicago, Jennifer Lien’s desire to act was encouraged by her English and drama instructors. At the age of thirteen, she began to perform at the Illinois Theatre Center, appearing in productions of The Tempest and Othello before she moved on to more contemporary drama and musical theater. Following her television debut in a small role in the Oprah Winfrey-produced series Brewster Place, Lien was hired to play a young orphan named Hannah Moore on the NBC daytime drama Another World. Lien stayed with the soap for a year and a half, then took a brief hiatus from onscreen appearances to investigate the world of voice acting. During this period, Lien’s vocalizations were heard on Adam Sandler’s debut comedy album and the pilot episode of ABC’s animated series The Critic. But although she would continue to occasionally take voice roles (Duckman, Superman: The Animated Series, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest), the siren’s call of “on-camera” appearances was too strong to resist. Lien accepted an offer to become a regular on the sitcom Phenom, and a year later, won the role of Kes on Star Trek: Voyager. Kes, and Lien, would only sail with Voyager for two seasons (although she would return for a guest appearance as Kes in the year 2000), but her departure from the series left the door open for other projects: film roles in American History X and S.L.C. Punk, and a recurring voice role in an animated version of Men in Black. In 2008, Lien executive produced Geek Mythology, a comedy written and directed by her husband, Phil Hwang.